Disability

May 26, 2016

Advice to Myself as a Young Mom of a Child with Disabilities

This a marathon, not a race. Slow down and know that all those phone calls and letters can wait until tomorrow. He won’t know that you refrained, just barely, from calling his school Principal an idiot or that you successfully had his suspension rescinded. Get more sleep. It’s tempting to stay up after he is asleep to have some “me time” but in order to work with others you need to be rational and well rested. Put down the mop and just spend time with him. Teach him how to bake and let him eat the batter. Play board games over and over. Go to the park. He will remember the wind on his face as you pushed him higher […]
July 1, 2016

Out There

I have been submitting writing to other sights and then losing track when they are posted. So here are the last two (that I am aware of, lol) on Rage Against the Minivan and The Mighty So enjoy and please leave a comment if you are so inclined. Happy Canada Day Everyone
October 18, 2016

Checking In

So I haven’t blogged for several months. Honestly the summer flew by, we only got to go camping in our new pop up trailer twice and both times were unbearably hot and humid – like sit in your own sweat all day type humid. Our niece Teegan came down for several weeks and she was Corbin’s support person in the evenings. He loved having someone his age to watch movies with and she even managed to get him to go for walks. We loved it because we weren’t inundated with a million requests. He also got his beginner driving licence. Corbin also found his way onto this blog. I knew it would happen one day. I have tried to be […]
December 6, 2016

Extraordinary Needs

A woman I consider my mentor once told me that her biggest regret was not spending more time with her other kids as she was always busy with her daughter with complex medical needs. Later that same week my 5 year old son sat in the back of my van and piped in “Mom, let’s have a meeting”. I asked him why he wanted to have a meeting and he said “So me and you and Dad can be together. I know, I will bring paper and pens and you bring snacks”.  I wept silently the rest of the way to our destination. My 5 year old had figured out one of the only ways to get his parents attention […]
December 14, 2016

Advocacy is not a 4-letter word

There are times where, as the parent of a child with a disability, you will be told to fight for what your child needs. Us “special needs moms” – we tell each other “fight for him, you know him best” and “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. People get worked up hearing other parent’s stories. At times I too have believed this way of thinking and engaged in my fair share of fights.  Last week I read a piece that spoke of being a Mama Warrior for your child with special needs and it just seared my heart.  I genuinely felt very saddened by the notion that as a whole, it is thought that parents of kids with a disability […]
April 9, 2017

What Matters – Giveaway

I was just doing some cleaning and realized I have 2 copies (one dog eared, one in pristine condition) of What Matters by Janice Fialka. It is an amazing book about raising her family and her son making his way in the world, fully included at every step of the way. Janice has been an inspiration to me since before we even adopted Corbin, and became even more important to me after. To win a copy of this book do one or all of the following (each one will get you a ballot in the draw):  Leave a comment here  share my facebook post Like my FB post Make sure you leave a message in the comments if you share […]